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PSALMS
OF THE SEASON - EPIPHANY, YEAR B
The Psalms in Worship, A 21st Century Descant
by
Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Conference
Minister
Below you will find the
readings from the Psalms assigned to the
season of Epiphany, Year B. Epiphany is
the celebration of God's manifestation through
Jesus Christ. The season begins on January
6, but in some years, many communities will
use Epiphany themes and scriptures beginning
on the Sunday prior to January 6.
It is my hope to render each of the Psalms
in language that is understandable to people
today, useable in worship, and true to the
intent of the psalmists. These re-phrasings
are not so much paraphrase as harmony, with
the fixed, known melody as a base. The book
is copyrighted, but you have my permission
to use any of the readings posted on this
website in a service of worship, with the
printed acknowledgement:
From The Psalms in Worship,
Mary Susan Gast, © 2002;
used by permission in this service of
worship.
Scroll down the page, or click on the link:
Epiphany - Epiphany
First Sunday after
Epiphany
Second Sunday after
Epiphany
Third Sunday after
Epiphany
Fourth Sunday after
Epiphany
Fifth Sunday after
Epiphany
Sixth Sunday after
Epiphany
Seventh Sunday after
Epiphany
Last Sunday after
Epiphany
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EPIPHANY - PSALM 72: 1-7, 10-14
This Psalm is a prayer for an anointed
king of Israel, asking that God's
reign be established through the king.
Christians hear in Psalm 72 a prayer
for the reign of Jesus Christ.
Leader: Endow
our ruler with Your justice, O God,
PEOPLE: And to the ruler who follows,
Give
Your ability and desire
to
provide for the well-being of the
people,
Leader: That
all Your people may be kept secure,
PEOPLE: And Your lowly ones served
with justice.
Leader: May
the mountains yield prosperity for
the people,
PEOPLE: And the hills, the reward
of justice .
Leader: May
the cause of the poor be defended,
PEOPLE: Deliverance given to the needy,
Leader: And
oppression crushed.
PEOPLE: As long as the sun endures,
Leader: While
the moon lasts,
PEOPLE: Through all generations.
Leader: May
those who rule be like rain that falls
on the mown grass,
PEOPLE: Like showers that water the
earth.
Leader: May
well-being flourish and peace abound,
PEOPLE: Until the moon is no more.
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Leader: The just
ruler rescues the needy when they cry out,
PEOPLE: The poor and those who have no helper.
Leader: With compassion,
The
lives of the weak and the needy are restored,
PEOPLE: Their lives delivered from oppression
and violence,
Leader: Their blood
deemed too precious to be shed.
FIRST
SUNDAY AFTER EPHIPHANY-PSALM 29
Leader: Ascribe
to the Almighty, O heavenly beings,
PEOPLE: Ascribe to the Almighty and
to none other,
Leader: Ascribe
to the One God splendor and strength.
PEOPLE: Ascribe to the Holy One the
wonder of God's renown;
Leader: Bow
down before the Most High,
PEOPLE: Who is holiness and splendor. |
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Leader: The voice
of the Most High is over the waters;
PEOPLE: The God of glory thunders,
The
Almighty, over mighty waters.
Leader: The voice
of the Holy One is power;
PEOPLE: The voice of the Holy One is magnificence.
Leader: The voice
of the Holy One breaks the cedars;
PEOPLE: The Holy One shatters the cedars
of Lebanon.
Leader: And makes
the mountain range skip like a calf,
PEOPLE: And the northern region cavort like
a young wild ox.
Leader: The voice
of the Most High flashes forth flames of
fire.
PEOPLE: The voice of the Most High convulses
the wilderness;
Leader: The Most
High convulses the wilderness of Kadesh.
PEOPLE: The voice of the Almighty causes
the oaks to whirl,
Leader: And strips
the forest bare;
PEOPLE: So that in God's temple all say,
"Glory!"
Leader: The One
God sits enthroned over the flood;
PEOPLE: The One God sits enthroned and reigns
forever;
Leader: The Almighty
pours out strength to God's people!
PEOPLE: The Almighty blesses God's people
with peace!
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SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPHIPHANY-PSALM
139: 1-6, 13-18
Leader: You
have searched me, O Holy One,
PEOPLE: And You know me.
Leader: You
know when I sit down and when I rise
up;
PEOPLE: You sense my thoughts from
afar.
Leader: You
notice my going out and my lying down,
PEOPLE: You are acquainted with all
my ways.
Leader: Even
before a word is on my tongue, O Holy
One,
PEOPLE: You know it completely.
Leader: You
are all around me;
PEOPLE: You lay Your hand upon me.
Leader: Such
knowledge is beyond me.
PEOPLE: It is so lofty that I cannot
attain it.
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Leader: You it
was who created my inmost being.
PEOPLE: You knit me together in my mother's
womb.
Leader: I give You
thanks,
PEOPLE: For I am awesomely and wondrously
made.
Leader: Your work
is wonderful;
PEOPLE: That I know very well.
Leader: My frame
was not concealed from You,
when
I was being shaped in a hidden place,
intricately
woven in the depths of the earth.
PEOPLE: Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
Leader: In Your
book were written
all
the days that were formed for me,
when
none of them as yet existed.
PEOPLE: How weighty to me are Your thoughts,
O God!
Leader: How vast
is their number!
I
try to count them;
PEOPLE: They outnumber the grains of sand.
Leader: I end;
PEOPLE:: Yet I am still with You.
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THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY-PSALM
62: 5-12
Voice 1: Find comfort,
O my soul, in God alone,
PEOPLE: For my hope comes from the
Most High.
Voice 2: God alone is
my rock and my deliverance,
my
safe harbor;
PEOPLE: I shall not be distressed.
Voice 1: My life and my
significance depend upon God,
PEOPLE: Who is my mighty rock, my
refuge.
Voice 2: Trust in the
Holy One at all times, O people;
Voice 1: Pour out your
hearts to the Most High;
PEOPLE: God is our refuge.
Voice 2: Humans are but
a breath;
Voice 1: Those of high
estate are a delusion;
Voice 2: Placed on a scale
together,
They
are lighter than a breath.
Voice 1: Do not trust
in violence;
PEOPLE: Place no vain hopes in coercion;
Voice 2: If force bears
fruit, if wealth increases,
PEOPLE: Pay it no mind.
Voice 1: One thing God
has spoken,
Voice 2: Two things have
I heard:
PEOPLE: You, O God, are Strength,
And
Your love is unshakable, O Holy One.
ALL: You
reward with peace,
All
who have sought peace.
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FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY-PSALM
147: 1-11, 20c
ALL: Hallelujah!
PEOPLE: How good it is to sing honor
to our God;
Leader: For
the Holy One is gracious,
PEOPLE: And a song of acclaim is fitting.
Leader: The
Most High rebuilds the holy city;
PEOPLE: And gathers up the outcasts.
Leader: The
Almighty heals the brokenhearted,
PEOPLE: And binds up their wounds.
Leader: The
Holy One determines the number of the
stars;
PEOPLE: And gives to each its name.
Leader: Great
is our Creator, and abundant in power;
PEOPLE: God's wisdom is beyond measure.
Leader: The
Holy One lifts up the downtrodden;
PEOPLE: And brings the oppressors down
to the dust.
Leader: Sing
to the Most High with thanksgiving;
PEOPLE: Make melody on the lyre to honor
our God,
Leader: Who
covers the heavens with clouds,
PEOPLE: Prepares rain for the earth,
Leader: Makes
grass grow on the hills.
PEOPLE: Who provides food for the beasts
of the field,
Leader: And
for the raven's brood when they cry.
PEOPLE: The Author of Life does not
prize the strength of the horse,
Leader: Nor
value the speed of the runner;
PEOPLE: But the Holy One delights in
those who trust in God,
Leader: In those
who put their hope in God's unfailing
love.
ALL: Hallelujah! |
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SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY-PSALM
30
Leader: I will acclaim You, O Holy One,
For You have pulled me up from the pit,
PEOPLE: And did not let my enemies gloat over me.
Leader: O God, my God, I cried out to You for help,
PEOPLE: And You healed me.
Leader: O
Loving One, You brought me up from
the grave,
PEOPLE: You restored me to life from
the realm of the dead.
Leader: Sing
praises to the Holy One, O you who
are faithful,
PEOPLE: And give thanks to the God
who is Life.
Leader: Who
seems to forsake us but for a moment;
PEOPLE: Whose favor is for a lifetime.
Leader: Weeping
may linger for the night,
PEOPLE: But joy comes as surely as
the morning.
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Leader: When I
lived untroubled, I declared,
"I
shall never be distressed."
Your
face beamed upon me an abundance of gifts,
And
I stood firm as a mighty mountain.
PEOPLE: When I lost sight of Your face,
I was terrified.
Leader: I called
to You, O God, and to You I made my appeal:
PEOPLE: "What good will come from my
destruction,
From
my going down to the land of the dead?
Leader: Can the
dust remember You?
PEOPLE: Can it tell of Your faithfulness?
Leader: Hear me,
O God, and be gracious to me!
PEOPLE: O God Most High, be my help!"
Leader: You turned
my lament into dancing;
PEOPLE: You undid my clothes of mourning,
And
wrapped me with joy,
Leader: So that
my soul may sing praises to You
And
not be silent.
PEOPLE: O God my God, I will give thanks
to You forever.
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SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY-PSALM
41
Voice 1: Happy are those
who consider the poor;
PEOPLE: The Holy One delivers them
in the day of trouble.
Voice 2: The Author of
Life protects them and keeps them
alive;
PEOPLE: They are called happy in the
land.
Voice 1: You do not surrender
them to the desires of their enemies.
PEOPLE: The Almighty sustains them
on their sickbed,
Transforming
their bed of suffering.
Voice 2: As for me, I
said, "O Holy One, be gracious
to me;
Restore
me, for I have strayed from You."
Voice 1: My enemies asked
in malice when I would die,
And
my name pass from memory.
Voice 2: And when they
came to see me,
They
uttered empty words,
While
their minds amassed tales;
Voice 1: When they went
out, they defamed me.
Voice 2: All who hated
me whispered together about me;
Voice 1: They assumed
the worst for me.
Voice 2: They speculated
that a deadly thing had fastened on
me,
That
I would not rise again from where
I lay.
Voice 1: Even my closest
friend
in
whom I trusted,
who
ate of my bread,
Turned
against me.
Voice 2: But You, O Redeemer,
had compassion on me,
PEOPLE: And raised me up, that my
life might refute their claims.
Voice 1: I know that You
bless me,
PEOPLE: Because the ill-will of my
enemy has not triumphed over me.
Voice 2: You uphold me
because I put my trust in You,
PEOPLE: And let me in live in Your
presence forever.
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ALL: Blessed
be the Holy One, the God of the faithful,
from
everlasting to everlasting.
Amen
and Amen.
LAST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY-PSALM
50: 1-6
Voice 1: The Mighty One,
Voice 2: God,
Voice 3: The Ruler of Creation,
Voice 1: Speaks,
PEOPLE: And summons the earth,
From
the rising of the sun to its setting.
Voice 2: Out of the abode
of holiness,
And
the perfection of beauty,
PEOPLE: God shines forth.
Voice 3: Our God comes forth
PEOPLE: And does not keep silence,
Voice 2: Devouring fire
advances before the Most High,
PEOPLE: With a mighty tempest all around.
Voice 3: The Holy One calls
to the heavens above and to the earth,
PEOPLE: That God may judge the people:
Voice 1: "Gather to
Me My faithful ones,
Who
made a covenant with Me, confirmed by
sacrifice!"
Voice 2: The heavens declare
God's faithfulness and power;
PEOPLE: God is justice. |
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Your
comments are welcome
Send to mailto:msgast@ncncucc.org
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